Wow, Nintendo! Wow!

Nintendo has a long and illustrious history in the console wars. Its newest incarnation the Wii U is a complex redesign on the Nintendo Wii; which has sold incredibly over the last several years. The Wii U, like the original Wii, attempts to meld form, function and technology together, but unlike the original Wii, the Wii U is attempting to garner a chunk of the “hardcore gamer” pie that has long belonged to Sony and Microsoft. The Wii U is a slightly more sophisticated system with better graphics and better Wii accessories.

The most excited Wii U accessory, by far, is the tablet controller. The tablet controller, which comes with the system, meshes the technology of the Nintendo DS, with the motion sensor capabilities of the original Wii controller. The tablet displays the same picture as the television screen and allows players a ton of different playing options. Nintendo did an interesting job with this, and it might be the right time to offer up such a feature since the world has gone gaga over tablet PCs for the last year or so.

The controller also serves as a makeshift portable device if someone in your house wants to watch TV. As long as the controller is within range of the console the image can be zapped to the controller while the TV is in use by another device. It is pretty cool stuff.

Nintendo Wii U Trailer (E3 2011)

There is little information, yet, about new peripherals, but what is known is that the Wii U is backwards compatible with all Wii accessories as well as Wii games. Basically the steering wheels, balance boards and any other Wii accessories that is already on deck can be used with the new console. Nintendo strayed from the norm with this as Microsoft and Sony didn’t really consider backwards compatibility when their current generation systems hit the market. The backwards compatibility of Wii accessories is a huge money-saver for those looking to upgrade their system.

If we know anything about Nintendo there is likely to be a slew of new Wii U accessories that hit the scene before the holiday season, but the backwards compatibility of past Wii accessories are sure to make some consumers vary happy and will likely help to push sales of the new system. Well done, Nintendo, well done!